LAB

NI/BEEcube Software Defined Radio (SDR) Gen-2

Description

The National Instruments BEEcube-based nanoBEE and megaBEE Software Defined Radio (SDR) platform is a high-performance, scalable and flexible SoC-based computing platform with RF, FPGA, and network interfaces, fully programmable from Matlab/Simulink and proprietary software that allows multi-channel wireless prototyping. The large-capacity and customization features of the system allow for implementing complex Software Defined Radio system in the lab and real-world environment thus enabling research, development, and test.

Support

Community Support / Engineering Support

Acknowledging CMC

If your research benefits from products and services provided by CMC Microsystems, please acknowledge this support in any publications about your work. For more information, please visit Acknowledge CMC.

Benefits

Accelerates research by providing
- A feature-rich platform for implementing and validating Software Defined Radio system architectures and algorithms
- An automated design flow from MATLAB/Simulink (and/or proprietary software), reducing development effort and enabling platform use by application/domain experts
Addresses specific research needs through a hardware/software programmable system, in particular:
- High-performance Digital Signal Processing (DSP)
- Hardware-based application acceleration
Enables a faster path to commercialization by sourcing commercial-grade components and through compliance with commercial standards and interfaces (e.g., PCI-express, Ethernet).
Technical support and training from CMC Microsystems

Applications

Multi-channel wireless system prototyping:
- Cellular
- WiFi
- L-/S-band SATCOM
- Massive MIMO communications testbeds
MIMO RADAR systems
Cognitive radio networks
White space radios

Features

nanoBEE SDR

Xilinx Zynq Z-7100
1 or 2 FMC112 modules for 2×2 and 4×4 MIMO respectively:
- Up to 56 MHz bandwidth per channel
- RF range covers 70 MHz to 6 GHz
- 23 dBm output power (2.3~2.7 GHz, 3.3~3.8 GHz and 4.9~5.9 GHz)
- -94 dBm receiver sensitivity level
GPS module w/ external antenna connection
QSFP+ and 4 SFP+ connectors for up to 80Gbits of optical IO
HDMI IN/OUT
2 AuxIO connectors:
- 8 GPIO + Clk_in + Clk_out per connector (100MHz max)
UART/JTAG for debugging
1GbE for remote log in and management of the nanoBEE
Jitter cleaner for clock recovery and synchronization applications
Portable form factor

megaBEE SDR (8×8 / 16×16)

Eight wideband RF channels:
- Up to 56 MHz bandwidth per channel
- RF range covers 70 MHz to 6 GHz
- 23 dBm output power (2.3~2.7 GHz, 3.3~3.8 GHz and 4.9~5.9 GHz)
- -94 dBm receiver sensitivity level
Two Xilinx Zynq Z-7100 FPGAs with four ARM cores and 4040 DSP slices
Optimized for LTE and 5G cellular RF bands worldwide
Flexible MIMO SDR architecture
Clock architectures:
- Flexible clock sources (19.2 MHz or 40 MHz)
- Ultra-low jitter cleaner (<1ps RMS jitter) and clock distribution
- Sub-ns accuracy clock synchronization based on IEEE 1588v2 protocol
SDR software compatibility:
- HDL
- MATLAB/Simulink
- C/C++/Python
Peripherals:
- 2 GB DDR3 and 8GB Flash Memory
- 8x SFP+
- 2x QSFP
- 2x HDMI IN and OUT
- 2x USB v 2.0 (Host)
- 2x RJ-45 (1G Ethernet)
Compact 1U form factor

Resources

How to Access

Email lab@cmc.ca.

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